Key Bible Verse: Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and import duties (Romans 13:7). Bonus Reading:Romans 13:1–7

Several years ago my wife and I lived in Kansas City, Missouri, while I worked across the river in Kansas City, Kansas. As an employee working in Kansas, I was subject to Kansas state income tax, but as a resident of Missouri I didn't have to pay the tax till the end of the year. We moved to Colorado in July of one year, and at the end of the year I realized that I owed Kansas for seven months of income tax.

My first thought was to forget it; after all, the amount was fairly small and they wouldn't come all the way to Colorado to collect. But then the Holy Spirit brought to my mind [today's Key Bible] verse, which I'd previously memorized. God brought conviction to my heart that I must pay the State of Kansas the tax I owed out of obedience to God. God gave conviction that day by bringing God's Word to bear on the payment of taxes, and this conviction has influenced and governed my actions ever since.

This is the way we develop conviction: by determining, from the Word, God's will in specific situations that arise in our lives.